Clothing carriers, such as suit-carriers and garment bags, for packing clothing articles are common but they are typically bulky, heavy and do not prevent wrinkles and creases from forming in the clothing articles, when packing the clothing articles, or when the clothing articles are packed, in storage, or in transit.
Clothing carriers are normally designed to receive clothing articles hung on clothing hangers. The clothing carriers are generally made wider and longer than the clothing articles they carry to receive clothing articles of different sizes. Clothing articles and clothing hangers are commonly inserted together into the clothing carrier, with the clothing article hung on the clothing hanger, and are hung from the upper-end of the clothing carrier when the clothing carrier is hung in an open condition. The inserted and hung clothing articles are then secured by fasteners, such as flaps, across the sleeves and body of the clothing articles, before the clothing articles are subsequently folded across the sleeves and the body when the clothing carrier is folded to the closed condition to reduce its overall size to ease handling for storage and/or transit.
Clothing articles packed in clothing carriers are typically wrinkled before the clothing article is folded with the clothing carrier. Accordingly, creases are formed separately at four different times: when the fasteners are tied across the wrinkles in the clothing articles to secure the clothing article to the clothing carrier; when the wrinkled clothing articles are folded with the clothing carrier from the open condition to the folded state; when the wrinkled clothing articles are compressed as the clothing carrier is locked to the folded state; and when the wrinkled clothing articles are compressed in storage and/or transit.
A particular need exists for a clothing packing apparatus for folding a clothing article, such as a suit, that can:
remove wrinkles in the clothing article before the clothing article is folded;
prevent wrinkles and creases from forming in the clothing article when the clothing article is folded; and
prevent wrinkles and creases from forming in the clothing article when the clothing articles is compressed in storage and/or transit.
Presently, clothing articles, such as suits, are typically stored and carried in conventional clothing carriers, such as suit-carriers or garment bags. Besides their large dimension and/or heavy weight, clothing, articles are packed into conventional clothing carrier before they are folded, a major step in the packing process that causes a significant amount of wrinkles to form in the clothing article that lead to the formation of creases in folded clothing articles when the folded clothing articles are compressed at different times when they are stored in their folded state.
Prior art to remove wrinkles and creases in packed clothing article is known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,711 relates to a garment carrier that require a pleated garment to be placed on a simple, sized, rectangular flexible sheet material before it is furled together with the flexible sheet material to wrap the clothing article in the form of a roll, to prevent wrinkles and creases from forming in the clothing article.
However, furling a clothing article that has a body and sleeves, such as a suit, together with a simple, sized, rectangular flexible sheet material is difficult and ineffective. The thick padded shoulder areas and three-dimensional structured sleeves of the clothing article are difficult to roll, and the roll produced is bulky and heavy from the large flexible sheet material needed for the exercise.
Moreover, the clothing article is squeezed between the flexible sheet material when the clothing article is furled, causing the clothing article to wrinkle, and subsequently crease the clothing article when the clothing article is eventually sandwiched by the flexible sheet material.